Saturday, January 19, 2013

Fighters And Rabbis

- One thing I don't like is they're racist.
- "It's in the genes of Arabs to be killers."
- Yeah. That's what the rabbi said. But I like coming here. And I'm out of money. Though they really make you work for the food. They can pray and sing twenty four hours a day.
- You heard though what the rabbi said at the end of the sermon? It's a mistake to run from, you should run to.
- What does it mean?
- It means don't be afraid or angry, hate or despair, don't run from. Go get what you want, run to it.
- That's good. Do you like the rabbis?
- The rabbi went on about how their movement reformed Judaism, got rid of the empty practice of rituals, traded it for true spirituality, spirituality so powerful a spiritual person could recognize a spiritual person at first sight.
- And what do you think?
- They transmit a tradition they don't understand. They're not spiritual. They worship money and prosperity. You remember how when we came in, you said this was a nice house they have?
- Yes.
- The rabbi said they've got half this block in Beverly Hills, and God willing they'll have the whole block, the whole city soon. They think I'm evil because I don't have money.
- And they think they're good because they do.
- And they'll be better when they have more.
- Some spirituality. What are you doing later?
- Nothing. Go to the cafe and write down a story. I came here from the lawyers of the Beverly Hills doctor my wife married without divorcing me who now wants to divorce her without paying her anything.
- What did you tell them?
- Before he married my wife I went to the doctor's office. He wouldn't see me, so I left a note saying as far as I knew I was still married.
- He married her anyway?
- Yes. My message to the lawyers was this: my whole life was tied up in my marriage. In practical terms, the doctor caused me great harm. If he wanted to make good on that, we had a shared interest in dissolving his relation to my wife. But I wouldn't help someone who'd harmed me.
- What did they say?
- They'd pass on the message to the doctor.
- What do you think will happen?
- No idea. If you've had enough of the rabbi's food, we can go.
- Come with me to the TV studio and watch the fight.

- So it's something like the original Harvard Facebook. Except it is not still images of two girls you have to rate better or worse, but two live video feeds of people competing for your vote. You've been on yourself?
- Yeah. Between eight and ten they pay ten dollars a minute.
- You stay on extra minutes as long as you win?
- Yeah. I've made over eight hundred dollars so far. But it's making me paranoid.
- Why?
- Hackers found out where I live, that I'm Jewish. They found me on social media. Neo-Nazis are writing to me.
- They know your address?
- No. Beverly Hills.
- How did they find out you are Jewish?
- I wore a yarmulke.
- Why did you do that?
- It's show business.
- It's a night of moving from one ridiculous evil to another.
- Neo-Nazis going after me is no joke.
- They don't know anything important about you. This fight here tonight is fake, right?
- My fight wasn't fake.
- You went to the fight like you went to the rabbis thinking what they offered was real, but it's not.
- Being hit in the face was real.
- The rabbi's food was real too. I mean it isn't about what it seems to be about. The fight was about selling ads on broadcast TV, the sermons and prayers are about acquiring wealth, power. Look at these guys. The host is half the weight of the professional fighter he is up against, he's so thin his pants are falling off and he's wearing a low cut pink t-shirt and you take this seriously? You said it yourself, it's show business. Show business is about mass approval. Mass approval is about money. Money is about power. There's nothing good for the spirit here.
- I like it. I've made me a lot of money the last two weeks.
- From tonight turn your back on it.
- The rabbis are racist and money crazy, but I met you there.
- Not everything is fake.